Device for removing ballast from railway roadbeds

ABSTRACT

A pair of removal implements are mountable on a track supported work vehicle for movements between raised and lowered positions as well as movements longitudinally of ties disposed to support the tracks. Downwardly depending, blade-like implement elements on the removal implements are disposed to work simultaneously on the outside and inside of each track for removing ballast to the outside of the tracks. Supplementary implements including lateral extensions are rotatably mounted on each of the removal implements for movements from an inoperative position, during initial ballast removal operations, to an operative position during final ballast removing operations whereby ballast under the track is removed by the lateral extensions.

United States Patent [191 Bucksch [111 3,826,195 [451 July 30,1974

DEVICE FOR REMOVING BALLAST FROM RAILWAY ROADBEDS [75] Inventor: Herbert Bucksch, Ruskau, Germany [73] Assignee: Rheiner Maschinenfabrik Windhoff Akt.-Ges., Rheine, Germany [22] Filed: Sept. 17, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 397,849

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 24, 1972 Germany 2252056 [52] US. Cl 104/2, 37/104, 171/16 [51] Int. Cl. EOlb 27/04 [58] Field of Search 37/104, 105, 107; l7l/l6;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,770,552 7/1930 Robb 37/107 3,054,459 9/1962 Scheuchzer l7l/l6 3,436,848 4/1969 Peppin et a1 171/16 3,457,660 7/1969 Speno 37/105 3,491,467 l/l970 Finger 37/104 Primary Examiner-M. Henson Wood, Jr.

Assistant Examiner-Richard A. Bertsch Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Merchant, Gould, Smith & Edell [57] ABSTRACT I A pair of removal implements are mountable on a track supported work vehicle for movements between 5 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures DEVICE FOR REMOVING BALLAST FROM RAILWAY ROADBEDS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention Theinvention refers to a device for removing ballast from railway roadbeds by means of removal implements which are mounted on a work vehicle and which can be raised and lowered and also moved parallel to the longitudinal axis of the ties, whereby these removal implements are fitted with implements which work simultaneously on the outside and the inside of the track, such that the implement on the inside of the track has an extension in the direction of the outer side of the track.

2. Description of the Prior Art So-called tie interval cleaners are well known; Such devices are vehicles which can be moved on railway tracks and which carry removal implements which, in turn, are fitted with implements which work simultaneously on the inside and the outside of the track. By means of these implements, it is possible to push the ballast of a railway roadbed outward to the edges of the roadbed where the ballast can be picked up by means of so-called edge cleaning machines.

In this procedure, the actual removal implements are mounted on transversely movable sleds to facilitate the transfer of the ballast from one implement to the other. To move the ballast remaining under the base of the rail to a position where it can be cleared away by. the implements operating on the outside of the track, the known devices have been developed as follows: the implement operating on the inside of the track is equipped with an extension which is pushed under the base of the rail. By means of this extension, the operating ranges of the inner and outer implements are made to overlap, such that it is possible to completely remove the ballast from the tie intervals.

This familiar machine or arrangement of the familiar machine has the disadvantage that the implement fitted with the extension does not penetrate deeply when the first clearance sweeps are made. As a result, the extension does not penetrate sufficiently far beneath the rail to remove all the ballast. This results in the disadvantage that ballast is dragged along when the implement is retracted, such that a number of sweeps are necessary to completely remove the ballast from the tracks.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The task of the invention is to solve this problem and, according to the invention, a device of the general catagory just described is proposed, with the improvement that the extension is developed as a rotatable supplementary implement. This supplementary implement is rotated from an inoperative position into an operating position only on the final sweep or sweeps, at which time it reaches under the base of the rail and pushes the ballast located beneath the base of the rail outward into the operational range of the implement working on the outside of the track.

This makes it possible for the implements to penetrate deeply, even on the first sweep, with the result that deeper ballast removal is accomplished with fewer sweeps.

Preferably, the supplementary implement is rotatably fitted on the implement located inside the track and is rotated between the operative-inoperative positions, for example, by means of a hydraulic cylinder.

A version of the invention is presented by the following description which refers to the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows a front elevational schematic view of the removal implements in the direction of the transverse axis of the track; and

FIG. 2 shows a side elevational schematic view in the direction of the arrow P1 in FIG. 1.

Description of the Preferred Embodiment In FIG. 1 the numeral 1 designates a tie which supports rail 2. The removal implements, which are mounted on a work vehicle, not shown, are generally indicated by 3, and mounted on these removal implements 3 are the actual inner and outer operation implements 4 and 5 respectively, which can be pressed into the ballast of the roadbed. In the illustrated version, two operation implements 3 are provided which can be moved from the center of the longitudinal axis of the tracks outward to the edge of the roadbed, and which can also be raised and lowered.

The operation diagram in FIG. 1 shows that when they are in the central position (i.e., the inner operation implement elements 4 are located in the center of the track grid), the removal implements 3 can be lowered. In so doing, the operation implement elements 4 and 5 penetrate into the ballast of the roadbed. 1n the subse- In the illustration in FIG. I, .the numeral 6 indicates a supplementary implement on the right-hand side which is engaged, i.e., it is in an operative position, while on the left-hand side, supplementary implement 7 is shown in its retracted inoperative position.

As is more clearly shown in FIG. 2, the supplementary implements 6 fitted to operation implements 4 are rotatably attached at 8 and can be engaged or retracted by means of hydraulic cylinder 9. In FIG. 2, the broken lines show supplementary implements 6 in the inoperative position of disengagement and the solid lines show them in the operative position for operation, whereby the left-hand implement element 5 is omitted for clarity of representation. As is readily apparent from the above explanations, the operation implement elements 4 and 5 normally operated without the supplementary implements at the beginning of the clearance operation, pushing the ballast to the outer side of the roadbed. In the process, ballast must accumulate in the area beneath the rails 2, since the inner operation implement elements 4 are unable to reach under the rails.

Only at the end of the operation are the supplementary implements 6 and 7 placed in position for operation as shown on the right-hand side of FIG. 1, where the supplementary implements 6, which are developed as elongated, nose-shaped extensions, can now reach under the tracks and push the ballast which has accumulated here to the outside.

What is claimed is:

l. A device for removing ballast from between spaced longitudinally extended tracks supported on transversely disposed elongated ties, which device is securable to a work vehicle, said device comprising:

a. a removal implement connectable to the work vehicle for movement between raised and lowered positions and for movements longitudinally of th longitudinal axis of the ties;

b. implement elements on said removal implement for engaging the ballast outwardly and inwardly of each track in said lowered position;

c. a supplementary implement including a lateral extension; and

d. means mounting said supplementary implement on said removal implement for movements between an operative position wherein said lateral extension extends under the track upon movements of said removal implement in said lowered position longitudinally of said ties outwardly toward a track, and an inoperative position wherein said lateral extension is disposed above the track during said lowered position of said removal implement.

2. A device for removing ballast from between spaced longitudinally extended tracks supported on transversely disposed elongated ties, which device is securable to a work vehicle, said device comprising:

a. a pair of removal implements connectable to the work vehicle for movements between raised and lowered positions and for movements longitudinally of the longitudinal axis of the ties;

b. implement elements on said removal implements for engaging the ballast outwardly and inwardly of each track in said lowered position;

c. a pair of supplementary implements each including a lateral extension; and

d. means mounting each of said supplemental implements on one of said removal implements for movements between an operative position wherein said lateral extension extends under the track upon movements of a respective removal implement in said lower position longitudinally of said ties outwardly toward an outwardly disposed one of the tracks and an inoperative position wherein said lateral extension is disposed above the tracks in said lowered position of said removal implement.

3. The structure of claim 2 wherein each of said removal implements includes inner and outer implement elements, wherein each of said supplementary implements are disposed adjacent an inner implement element on a respective removal implement with a respective lateral extension extending from an inner implement element toward an outer implement element of a respective removal element, and wherein each of said supplementary implements is rotatably mounted for movements between said operative and inoperative positions.

4. The structure of claim 3 wherein the means mounting said supplementary implement for movements between said operative and inoperative positions includes a hydraulic ram extending between said supplementary implement and said removal implement.

5. The structure of claim 2 wherein said implement elements of said removal implement are each formed to span a tie in said lowered position and include pairs of inner and outer implement elements, wherein a supplementary implement is disposed adjacent each of said pair of inner implement elements, wherein each of said supplementary implement elements is rotatably mounted for movements between said operative and inoperative positions, and wherein said means mounting said supplementary implements for rotatable movements between said operative and inoperative positions includes a hydraulic ram extending between each of said supplementary implements and said removal implement. 

1. A device for removing ballast from between spaced longitudinally extended tracks supported on transversely disposed elongated ties, whicH device is securable to a work vehicle, said device comprising: a. a removal implement connectable to the work vehicle for movement between raised and lowered positions and for movements longitudinally of the longitudinal axis of the ties; b. implement elements on said removal implement for engaging the ballast outwardly and inwardly of each track in said lowered position; c. a supplementary implement including a lateral extension; and d. means mounting said supplementary implement on said removal implement for movements between an operative position wherein said lateral extension extends under the track upon movements of said removal implement in said lowered position longitudinally of said ties outwardly toward a track, and an inoperative position wherein said lateral extension is disposed above the track during said lowered position of said removal implement.
 2. A device for removing ballast from between spaced longitudinally extended tracks supported on transversely disposed elongated ties, which device is securable to a work vehicle, said device comprising: a. a pair of removal implements connectable to the work vehicle for movements between raised and lowered positions and for movements longitudinally of the longitudinal axis of the ties; b. implement elements on said removal implements for engaging the ballast outwardly and inwardly of each track in said lowered position; c. a pair of supplementary implements each including a lateral extension; and d. means mounting each of said supplemental implements on one of said removal implements for movements between an operative position wherein said lateral extension extends under the track upon movements of a respective removal implement in said lower position longitudinally of said ties outwardly toward an outwardly disposed one of the tracks and an inoperative position wherein said lateral extension is disposed above the tracks in said lowered position of said removal implement.
 3. The structure of claim 2 wherein each of said removal implements includes inner and outer implement elements, wherein each of said supplementary implements are disposed adjacent an inner implement element on a respective removal implement with a respective lateral extension extending from an inner implement element toward an outer implement element of a respective removal element, and wherein each of said supplementary implements is rotatably mounted for movements between said operative and inoperative positions.
 4. The structure of claim 3 wherein the means mounting said supplementary implement for movements between said operative and inoperative positions includes a hydraulic ram extending between said supplementary implement and said removal implement.
 5. The structure of claim 2 wherein said implement elements of said removal implement are each formed to span a tie in said lowered position and include pairs of inner and outer implement elements, wherein a supplementary implement is disposed adjacent each of said pair of inner implement elements, wherein each of said supplementary implement elements is rotatably mounted for movements between said operative and inoperative positions, and wherein said means mounting said supplementary implements for rotatable movements between said operative and inoperative positions includes a hydraulic ram extending between each of said supplementary implements and said removal implement. 